A dream season

James Clay went over 2,000
yards for the season with a game to go.MSJ athletics photo

When teams have played Mount St. Joseph this season, there has
been little surprise who would be carrying the football.

Yet, senior James Clay is having the kind of season most running
backs would dream of. In the face of opponents placing eight and
nine players in the box, Clay went over the 2,000-yard mark last
week against Earlham. In Mount St. Joseph’s 4-5 season, Clay
continued to be a constant source of inspiration and
determination.

“I tell you that James Clay doesn’t even know
he’s leading the country in rushing,” said Lions coach
Rod Huber, attesting to his running back’s humbleness and
maturity. “He doesn’t care. He loves to play, being
around a bunch of guys he loves being with and is trying as hard as
he can to win games every Saturday. This is a person who almost
dropped out of college in the first couple of years now he’s
on schedule to graduate in May and been invited to play in the
Aztec Bowl. That maturity is what is most satisfying to
see.”

Needless to say, his 222.4 yards per game on 287 carries have
shattered nearly every rushing record at Mount St. Joseph while
leading the nation in rushing. In fact, his 7.0 yards per carry
this season is down from his 7.9 per carry last season when he
rushed for 1,132 yards on 144 carries and averaged 113.2 yards per
game.

Huber said, though, the Lions struggled in the passing game
early in the season and began to lean on Clay more and more to be
competitive in games. He said Clay never complained as he took the
mantle in an effort to lead the team.

“He has taken the entire team on his shoulders,”
Huber. “Everyone knows that we’re a below-average
passing team this year. If we had a passing game, we would really
be dangerous. We were struggling but James was someone who wanted
that responsibility. He’s very unselfish. We gave him the
game ball several weeks ago after rushing for over 300 yards and he
turned around and tossed it to the offensive line and said
‘that’s your ball.’ ”

In that game, rushing for 342 yards on 32 carries against
Anderson, Clay set the school’s single-game mark and is the
third highest total this season in all of college football. Only
Concordia-Chicago’s Andrew Maddox 355-yard performance
against Concordia (Wis.) and Indiana State’s Shakir
Bell’s 349-yard effort against Drake topped Clay’s
Anderson totals.

The appreciate the numbers Clay have put up when everyone from
the defensive linemen to the ticket takers knew he would carry the
ball at least 25 times, you have to look at it in context of all
other collegiate running backs this season. Clay is the only back
to average more than 200 yards a game this season, regardless of
division. In Division III, Elmhurst’s Scottie Williams is in
second place, averaging a “mere” 171.3 yards per
game.

In fact, Clay has rushed for 200 yards or better in every game
except the Lions loss to No. 16 Franklin. The Grizzlies held Clay
to 65 yards on 27 carries in a 38-0 loss on Oct. 6.

“We knew he was our best player on the offensive side of
the ball and we had to try to see how we can get him the
ball,” Huber said. “It’s not like we’re
running a lot of trick plays. We run the ball of the middle and
tell him to go get ’em. We line up, run power and run
zone.”

The Lions will try to even its record against Thomas More in the
annual Bridge Bowl game Saturday. Regardless, James Clay has given
Mount St. Joseph something to follow while giving college football
fans one of the top rushing performances in college football
history.

Manchester: My bad

Apparently my column last week, where I kind of played up the
Hanover-Franklin Victory Bell game for the Heartland Collegiate
Athletic Conference championship a week early, reached the viewing
of the Manchester Spartans, Hanover’s opponent last Saturday.
While conference’s automatic bid would come down to that game
regardless of the Manchester-Hanover last week, the Spartans went
on to score a 35-34 upset of the Panthers. I received this email
from Manchester’s starting right tackle Tommy Webster after
the game.

“... I am sending this e-mail to tell you that you greatly
underestimated our team. In your column you wrote, "The Panthers
are 6-2, undefeated in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
and after playing Manchester on Saturday, will battle rival No. 21
Franklin for the league title, the Victory Bell and an automatic
bid to the playoffs." Always go for the upset. Keep up the good
writing because I do enjoy seeing what you write from the
HCAC.”

Tommy, you got me. Actually Manchester, which is 4-2 in HCAC
play and 5-4 overall is playing Anderson (0-9, 0-7) in an effort to
gain the Spartans’ first winning season since 1987. The
Spartan program has come a long way and actually Hanover coach
Steve Baudendistel predicted to me it would be a dogfight against
Manchester. Congratulations to Manchester and good luck against
Anderson.

Playoff talk

Let the scoreboard watching begin. In the Heartland
Collegiate Athletic Conference, it’s pretty simple.
Yes, the earlier mentioned Victory Bell game with Hanover (6-3,
6-1) traveling to No. 16-ranked Franklin (7-2, 7-0) will determined
who will advance to the Division III playoff out of the HCAC. The
loser, with multiple losses, will stay home, so this one is pretty
big.

No. 15 Wheaton’s victory over No. 14 North Central in the
Little Brass Bell game has made things a little more complicated in
the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
There is a three-way tie for first between Wheaton, North Central
and Elmhurst, who makes its appearance in the Top 25 this week at
No. 20.

If North Central and Elmhurst win, North Central will claim the
CCIW’s automatic bid. If North Central and Wheaton wins, but
Elmhurst loses, Wheaton gets the automatic bid because of
Wheaton’s victory over the Cardinals last week.

Finally, if Elmhurst and Wheaton wins and North Central loses
this week, Elmhurst gets the automatic bid because of its
head-to-head victory over the Thunder. Whew. So, in short, you are
watching these games in the CCIW:

Elmhurst (8-1, 5-1) at Illinois Wesleyan (6-3, 3-3)

North Park (1-8, 0-6) at Wheaton (7-2, 5-1)

North Central (7-2, 5-1) at Augustana (5-4, 4-2)

Lake Forest (8-1, 8-0) can make things simple in the
Midwest Conference by beating St. Norbert (7-2,
7-1) on Saturday. Lake Forest can win its first outright MWC title
since 1983 with a win and clinch a playoff berth. If St. Norbert
wins and Illinois College (8-1, 7-1) beats Carroll (7-2, 6-2), it
would create a three-way tie and Illinois College would grab the
MWC’s automatic bid based on the conference’s
“quarters led” tie breaker. St. Norbert can still win
the automatic bid if Illinois College loses to Carroll based on the
head-to-head victory over Lake Forest. It would be the Green
Knights’ 14th MWC title since joining the MWC in football in
1984.

Finally, Concordia-Chicago (9-0. 6-0) has already clinched the
Northern Athletics Conference’s automatic
berth and a share of the league title. The Cougars, which will make
its first-ever playoff appearance in football, can win the title
outright with a victory Saturday over Maranatha Baptist (0-9, 0-6
NAC). Concordia-Chicago is one of two undefeated teams not ranked
in the Top 25 (the other is Trinity, Conn., at 7-0).

Clyde Hughes has been writing sports at various times over the past 24 years, covering everything from high school, college and sporting events. A native of football-crazed Texas, Hughes works in Indiana and has written for numerous newspapers and magazines.2003-04 columnist: John Regenfuss